mizuno, estusa and pk made a few original non- clone frames, not quite sure which ones exactly though, apparently not the Reactor Lite, a staggering Vortex Clone:
as far as what the staggered strings do:
the usual promises, fresher breath, more popularity, women find you irresistable, etc.
at the time my falaffels were just starting to have tahinni, my late mother bought me a vortex sb from a tennis warehouse ad in the back of tennis magazine. Then some more tennis lessons, followed by an rd ti 70, and a prince mono. she wasn't rich, but she did so much for me, teaching me, loving me....

does anyone remember the vortex vhs video???
It featured a clear pyrex filled with this grey material. The commentator dipped his finger into it and it was soft. Then he punched it and it stiffened up. Keep in mind VHS and microwaves were relatively new; it was pretty impressive for a 13 year old boy!

The vortex was amazing club player technology. Excellent dampening. Almost too dampened, like chewing gum or rubber was in the frame. Felt like, if you ever saffinized it, goo would come out, just like splitting a candy bar.
The Vortex SB had more stability, dampening, and a sweeter more solid feel than the POG II chang. For a club level 2.5-4.5 it's really a superb racquet. At that level one will improve and enjoy the game more with a Vortex than with any players racquet. That's the danger of this phony new trend to call every frame produced a player$ racquet.

The string pattern was designed to increase the sweet spot. The Minzuno was very different from Prince's Vortex, which is a very muted frame. Think of the current claims for the Head tech of 2009.
When you string this system the first cross string must be a hard weave.

I'm currently playing with the Prince Vortex and it's unlike any other. I had an elbow problem earlier this year and this frame is so soft it's almost like buttah as plasma would say. It's a little like a Dunlop Max 200G, in that if you swing hard, you can hit a very heavy ball. It's lighter than the 200G though. At no time do I feel ANY vibration from this frame, which is exactly why I like it at this point in time.

It has staggered strings as has been mentioned and is strung very loosely at around 45 lbs. If I'm not careful, the ball will go long, but I'm learning to handle that.

This frame is a lifesaver for me, as I was beginning to despair of every getting back to serious tennis again.

Has anyone played with both these rackets to compare them? I've only played with the mizuno. Is the Prince Vortex a good racket?

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The Prince was a lot more string tension sensitive than the Reactor frames. When the string went dead, the play was horrible. Freshly strung, it was great. Prince Original SG was all that I ever use in an oversize. My doubles partner, who was not a string breaker needed to restring it after 15 hours or two weeks of hitting as this was his main frame fro six seasons.

I'm currently playing with the Prince Vortex and it's unlike any other. I had an elbow problem earlier this year and this frame is so soft it's almost like buttah as plasma would say. It's a little like a Dunlop Max 200G, in that if you swing hard, you can hit a very heavy ball. It's lighter than the 200G though. At no time do I feel ANY vibration from this frame, which is exactly why I like it at this point in time.

It has staggered strings as has been mentioned and is strung very loosely at around 45 lbs. If I'm not careful, the ball will go long, but I'm learning to handle that.

This frame is a lifesaver for me, as I was beginning to despair of every getting back to serious tennis again.

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Hi Virginia, great to see you back here again and playing

I'm actually just back from a holiday of a lifetime to the US Open in New York!!!

I managed to get to see the Semis and Finals (thanks to rain on one day putting everything back a day, and people selling cheap tickets)

And I got to see Nastase, Vilas, Manlikova, Bueno, Austin and lots of others playing some friendly mixed doubles on a smaller court, and Lendl and Cash autographs!!!

And at an auction there won a trophy actually won by Jimmy Connors in 70's

Cheers, yes I really did have a great time, unfortunately I'll probably never be able to go again, so I made sure I really enjoyed myself

Getting Lendl's autograph was great as it was so unexpected to even see him!!!

It rained all day the first day I was there (that really helped me get cheap tickets for other days), and I noticed there was a great tennis memerobilia auction going on held by Guernseys (who I had never heard of but are respected apparently). There were some real bargains there and also some shockingly high prices as well!!!

Some of the old wooden racquets went for $1000's as did some of the signed/used modern racquets. I was really so pleased to win one of Connors trophies. It is from 76, and having done some research it is a runner up trophy when losing to Nastase, am so happy to have this though

just picked up a Mizuno Reactor Pro yesterday in good condition. i need to restring it and see if the redemption string system works as advertised. if it does, i'll never have another unforced error again!

ROX PRO from Taiwan used to have one too: Delta 2000.
It had the paintjob of the Estusa Pro Legend Classic and an over the top staggered stringing pattern that would go around the frame instead of through it, leaving it to have a very small sweetspot and loads of spin.